Is Tessa Lavey the Dante Exum of women's basketball? How did she make this team?

So Depth chart would be?

PG - Phillips (5'8) / Mitchell (5'5) / Lavey (5'7)
SG - Jarry (6'2) / Snell (5'11)
SF - Taylor (6'0) / Allen (6'1)
PF - Francis (6'4) / Hodges (6'2)
C - Cambage (6'8) / Tolo (6'5) / Burton (6'4)

Solid team but will be interesting to see how they go without Jackson, Batkovic, O'Hea and Bishop.

I can understand not taking Nat Hurst (31) due to age and looking at the future.

But surely Tess Madgen (24) and Katie-Rae Ebzery (24) are better than Tessa Lavey (21).

Francis is a no brainer. she is dominating at the moment. Im still not sold on Burton. although she is undersized height wise internationally, she adds a much more physical approach to the game.

The way the shafted O'Hea & Bishop was disgusting - they now need them to go anywhere near a medal with Jackson's injury.

lavey pushes the ball more than hurst, is quicker than hurst, is a better defender than hurst and accumulates alot more assists than hurst. Trouble is she is a poor shooter compared to hurst and can lose her handle alot resulting in a bunch of turnovers, not to mention lack of experience at this level. But, she is a good alternative to mitchell who is slow, a poor defender but a descent shooter and a player that doesnt make alot of handling errors and can run the offense.

burton being there is an absolute outrage...
I guarantee you that the only reason burton got picked was because she is capable of playing both the 4 and 5 like jackson plays 4 and 5 on occasion.
big mistake in my opinion.


richards should have been chosen over her eventhough she is primarily a centre because francis can also play pf aswell as hodges. she was one of the best in the wnbl, the seabl and played extremely well against all wnba teams during the usa tour.

for me starting 5 and rotation:
mitchell 5'5 or phillips 5'8/lavey 5'7
allen 6'1/snell 5'11
taylor 6'1/jarry 6'1
francis 6'4/hodges 6'2/burton 6'4
cambage 6'8/tolo 6'5

phillips playing pg or sg
allen playing sg or sf
francis playing pf or c

with jackson, batkovic, bishop and ohea out.

I would have preferred a team along the lines of:
mitchell/phillips/lavey or wilson
allen/ebzery or cumming
taylor/kunek
francis/hodges
cambage/richards
1 of these ladies as another pf.
langford (hard worker on both ends)
mijovic(height/shooting from distance)
bunton (rebounds/strength)
ardossi (mid range shooting/strength)
not burton...

you cant take out lavey and swap with ebzery or madgen because they are not capable ppoint guards. You could say swap lavey for hurst, wilson or mcully.

Why isnt Ohea playing?

In joyces head, it was mostly going to be:

francis or burton at the 4(pf) spot
hodges at 4
jackson at 4 or 5(c)
cambage at 5
tolo or richards at 5

without jackson he couldnt cover that 4-5 position and so burton was the only other option as a 4-5 apart from francis which would end up looking like....

hodges at 4
francis at 4-5
cambage at 5
tolo at 5
richards at 5
which leaves you short a pf and an added c.

i would have just taken the chance on richards at pf (because she is only 6'3 - undersized centre) and had:

francis at 4
hodges at 4
richards at 4-5
cambage at 5
tolo at 5

the first 3 teams we play are cuba, korea and belarus who are quite small teams. i think richards would have been a great centre to have in the group games.

International basketball is a whole lot different to Australian basketball . They don't pressure the PG and they seem to have some free passage down the floor. Madgen going out for Lavey is a nonsense. Madgen is the captain of her WNBL and has shown how solid she can be winning many games herself last season. It's a complete farce how decisions are made that are illogical. Where is these coaches credibility when they insist on this kind of nonsense.

snell can only do one thing, shoot the 3. waste of space.

There's strong word that Richards is injured which is why she wasn't selected.

i reckon the usa squad will look something like this:

bird/diggins
taurasi/bonner/mcbride
moore/mccoughtry
parker/dupree/stewart
griner/fowles

best squad we could have put on the floor if everyone available?

phillips/mitchell/hurst
ohea/allen
taylor/kunek
jackson/francis/bishop
cambage/batkovic

Richards trained with the Spirit last night (social media) and Kelly Wilson was also, but she was injured also and may have chosen/decided to focus on the WNBL season instead, rather than to rush and aggravate anything.

http://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/2450310/injured-wilson-re-signs-with-spirit/?cs=2457

This team has Liz, Penney and Erin so still should compete for a medal.

Expect Penney to be fatigued after a long wnba season, and she is the type of player that will look to take over an offense. If she does have a bad game once the knockout stage starts like below, the Boomers campaign could be repeated.

http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/game/p/gid/A/grid/51/rid/7298/sid/4730/tid/239/_/2010_FIBA_World_Championship_for_Women/statistic.html

I thought Francis was cut before the last tour? Its looking like she may start, or play a lot of minutes if Hodges struggles on defense as I'm not sure the twin tower line up of Liz and Tolo will work.

I can understand taking a flyer on a youngster like the Boomers could have done with Ben Simmons, although he is likely a lottery pick in the next few years. Lavey was a 3rd string point guard for Bendigo last season that barely played in the wnbl. I thought Stephanie Talbot would have been the young payer they looked at (recent wnba draftee).

O'Hea playing a full season in the wnba would have been an ideal preperation for a World Championship campaign (instead of a few games v Japan and Belarus). My understanding was that she didn't or doesn't have a guaranteed contract in the wnba and has to try out to make the team, so I can't see the disrespect. Especially as she pulled out early once it was known she couldn't meet the requirements Joyce set out for her.

Burton is the other interesting selection as these seabl stats indicate that she might not be ready to compete at an international level

http://www.foxsportspulse.com/team_info.cgi?action=PSTATS&pID=197755280&client=1-3363-150604-284003-20161523

Madgen was tried as a PG in the WNBL. It was a disaster. No way she could play PG at WCs.

Hurts omission is suprising though.

Good to see Brendan taking two players Lavey and Burton to a worlds and they both wont make Olympics (Brazil)!

Gabe Richards should feel robbed! Burton stunk up the WNBL and struggled at COE. Mijovic Killed her in all statistics in SEABL and was the go to player for COE.

Lavey couldn't even get minutes at Bendigo. Maddie Garrick looks better.

Way to go Brendan! what a crock up! No Bishop, No O'Hea. Clearly we need a PG, So take Mitchell and Phillips and find a combo??

If cambage gets locked up we are in huge trouble! We wont even medal!

Tolo performed well the the Euroleague final 4. She has the size to compete and protects the paint quite well.

other teams have advanced significantly since the last world champs. a medal wont be as straight forward as previous tournaments.
usa are obviously way out in front but
spain, turkey, france and czech republic are quality teams along with canada, brazil and china who have some great emerging talent.

china with meng li 19yo
brazil with dantas 21yo
canada with nurse 18yo
france with gaye 19yo

What a joke. Picking Burton and Lavey ahead off Richards and Hurst just smacks stupidity. Whilst Rebecca Allen is talented Tess Madgen on the international stage would have been a much better option. Allen won't be effective against the top team. Anyone notice that Burton, Lavey and Allen have all recently signed with Joyce’s agent Geoff McGuire who also represents his son Daniel. McGuire has never represented women then all of a sudden signs these 3 players. Word is Joyce is filthy about the O’hea, Batkovic and Bishop situation that he is telling these girls to go with an agent that he can control.

francis is a better back up than tolo at the centre spot. Tolo averages only like 5 rebounds per game. The only good thing about tolo's game is that she is a good finisher under the basket (high fg%). Unfortunately we lack size at the pf position with hodges only 6'2 (she is undersized at this level) and so I think francis should start at pf due to her physical size and added 2 inches in height along with her mid range shooting and rebounding numbers. hodges is purely an around the rim player (she would be best suited to play the smaller teams like cuba and korea). burtons numbers are terrible but she runs the floor well and is an ok defender. thats about it...

pf
1.francis 6'4
2.hodges 6'2
3.burton 6'4

c
1.cambage 6'8
2.francis 6'4
2.tolo 6'5
3.burton 6'4

i see francis playing 25-30 mins a game(20-25pf, 5-10c)
cambage 20-25 mins at c
tolo 10-15 mins at c.
hodges 5-15 mins at pf.
burton 5-15 mins at pf or c

i agree garrick would have been a great player on both ends of the floor. had a great seabl season...

mijovic was drafted late by the mystics and was coe best player, has much more international experience than burton and has 10 times the potential.
should have given her the chance. great size at 6'6 with long arms, good shooter. needs to build her body and add a physical game.

allen has been terrific in my opinion. She's a good defender, good rebounder for her position, blocks shots, shoots the mid range and 3 at very high percentage.
was best player on the usa tour filling up the stat sheet. I think some teams even wanted to add her to there roster. much better than snell who is 1 dimensional and a waste of roster space.

Interesting on the agent stuff.

Although Bec Allen proved herself in the wnbl this season and on the usa tour. She can defend a number of positions and doesn't need much of the ball to contribute. Perfect 3 and D player at international level

wilson, cumming and mijovic would have made good replacements for lavey, snell and burton.

brondello would be a certainty for the opals if she wanted it.

penny has been playing really well. she's been getting big assit numbers (I think 8 last game) but has been overshadowed by taurasi who is getting 10-11. she's scoring double digits and gathering some good rebounds.

erins handles are getting better but she hasnt shot the 3 ball that good of late and is also not as tenacious on defense as she once was at indiana.
it'll be hard to determine who will start at pg for the opals phillips or mitchell.

From Boti's article
"Gabe is unlucky but she is undersized for international basketball."

First time I have ever heard Gabe referred to as undersized!

I know Phillips shoots over 40 % from 3. At one stage she was at 46% but her recent form has been poor. Like 1/10.
Allen is the best 2 we have without date, offers so much more. Phillips would be a better backup 2 than snell. Phillips May start at pg but not at sg. Phillips is better on defence while Mitchell is better at running offense.
Richards is undersized centre in terms of height. Probably could have played pf...

Starting 5:
Phillips
Allen
Taylor
Francis
Cambage

2nd lineup:
Mitchell
Phillips
Jarry
Hodges
Tolo

Lavey/Snell/burton I don't expect much from.

Hodges over Francis more than likely, but clearly a mistake. Francis beats her out in every facet of the game.

Allen is a sg/sf. What can't she do?

Burton is the biggest mystery for me. She has not proven herself anywhere or out shown anyone. What does she offer that several other players in the wnbl can't?

Griner & Cambage was a good matchup last season.
This season Griner has taken her game to another level. On the other hand Liz hasn't really been visible in any decent level comp lately so is bit of an unknown. I suspect her improvement would only be a fraction of Brittney's though.

It's pretty pointless comparing our players against the USA right now though. There is just no comparison. Against most other teams, Liz will be a huge asset if she is fit.

Erin's play this season has been pleasing, and Penny is just a class act and a warrior any time she is out there. Brilliant player in a system like Phoenix's where she can use her versatility. She has got great on court chemistry with Griner too. If she can get anything resembling that with Liz then it makes Liz all the more dangerous.

Cambage is no match for griner anymore. Griner has worked hard on improving her game and cambage has not.

Griner works hard on staying in range for the a block.
Cambage try's to follow players and then lunges for the block. She needs more poise. if she standed straight up instead of slapping at the ball and worked harder on her footwork, her block numbers would soar.

Liz is a great offensive player.

Griner is a great defensive player.

Liz has little to no impact on the defensive end, and her play goes downhill on that end when she is unfit.

Griner's offense is developing all the time and while she doesn't really have a lot of great post moves, she is finishing better, showing a softer touch and extending her range.

Liz will score v Griner although as far as overall impact on the game Griner should win that battle.

I stopped reading after someone suggested Tess Madgen should be picked in front of Bec Allen! Talk about clueless.

#493445 - brondello would be a certainty for the opals if she wanted it.

Coaches like Brondello and Agler couldn't committ to living full time in Canberra for 4 years as they had other organisations willing to offer them employment.

My understanding is that j0yce didn't have a lot of other organisations willing to offer him a four year employment contract.

Very interesting reading... Particularly about Joyce's agent making his first female signings of lavey, Allen and burton. Something he hasn't done before? Something going on?

Hurst, Wilson, mccully, veal, hunt, cole, Macleod, Romeo, todhunter. Would you take 1 of these girls before lavey?

I'd say the first 4 would have been better choices and cole would be one for the future.

Mansfield has been playing well also.

Romeo? bahahahahaha.

I really think Richards should have been taken over burton or tolo.
The other teams this year are all quite small anyway and a strong 6'3 mobile big would have been of more use than 2 lengthy centres of 6'4/6'5, they just don't have the stat numbers that suit there position. I think tolo's rebound career avg is just over 5 and burton even less ( not good when you compare that with Richards who averages 12 rebounds and scores consistent double digits). Francis is going to have to do a hell of lot of physical work at pf because there is no one else with a similar frame that can box out the likes of ogwumike, Charles, fowles, Dupree and the like. People will say that Richards was in doubt due to injury, but she is well enough to be on the standby list...

Richards has an injury that would of been too big of a risk at a World Championship tournament. She will get through a WNBL campaign but i would imagine on a reduced training load.

How can she be injured if she is first on the standby list along with hurst and madgen.

> Francis is going to have to do a hell of lot of physical work at
> pf because there is no one else with a similar frame that can box
> out the likes of ogwumike, Charles, fowles, Dupree and the like.

People really need to stop comparing Opals to WNBA All Stars. Putting Francis in the same sentence as Fowles or Ogwumike when speaking about rebounding is a joke.

Beating the Europeans is what we need to be firmly focussed on. The drubbing at the hands of the USA is a given. What we need to do is ensure that it occurs in the gold medal game rather than sooner.

U still have to try and compete against the Americans. If our objective was not to win, then what's the point in going. USA have a much bigger talent pool, but as you know, having the best team on paper doesn't always guarantee you a gold medal.

2006....

Based on recent scrimmages and past wNBA season, I believe us squad will look something like this.

Whalen/bird/diggins
Taurasi/mccougtry
Moore/bonner
Ogwumike/Dupree/Stewart
Griner/Charles, fowles or young Dolson, flip of coin.

I think the Donne will be a long shot because of injury.
Maybe 1 of bird , Whalen or diggins to make room for another sg in Augustus or young mcbride/sims knowing taurasi also runs point.

> If our objective was not to win, then what's the point in going.

Thanks for that pearl of genius

> U still have to try and compete against the Americans

Of course you do but selecting a team based on matchups with the USA is stupid given what a struggle it is going to be to get to them. Worry about them when we meet them. Until then just focus on not embarrassing ourselves the way we did under Graf

We won't be as bad as you think. A medal is a possibility.

Phillips 5'8
Allen 6'1
Taylor 6'1
Francis 6'4
Cambage 6'8

Pretty balanced side... Covers all bases. The only problem I can see would be the other teams speed in transition.

Will the Opals team need to pull a Boomers move and drop a game in the group stage against a team like Belarus to avoid playing team USA in the semi finals (the loss means playing for bronze).

If they finish second in their pool it looks like they get an extra knockout game in the round of 16 (3rd in group D, so likely China)and then will have a tougher 1/4 final game v Spain.

With the Boomers backlash they might avoid any potential tricks and be happy playing for bronze.

Who goes as a replacement?

If there is no reports of Liz screaming on the floor in agony I doubt it's a rupture.

If cambage is injured.... Richards steps in which ain't so bad.

Well we're pretty much f***ed if Liz is hurt in any serious way, and this certainly doesn't sound minor.

Thoughts & prayers for big Lizzie. Hope the news is good.

Anyone know of a live stream for France vs opals game tonight?

@lovewomensbasketball on twitter may post a link, otherwise a sports betting website like bet365 might be the best option to try.

Everyone says Richards was injured but fact is she was put on standby with madgen and hurst. So I hope Richards does go and I hope Francis gets a lot more minutes because we just don't have quality rebounders in tool or burton.

Will BA's insurance cover the dandenong contract?

Tough blow for Dandy if they pay her mid 6 figures and she cant play this year.

Richards the obvious replacement if healthy.

If she's not healthy, then OMG the next best centre we could take would be ... very ordinary, whoever they were. Yikes.
Fingers crossed for Gabe.

Batkovic or Richards are the only descent choices for the moment.

Front court of the future:
Cambage
Francis
Tolo
Bunton
Mijovic
Bishop
Tomlinson
Scherf
Burton
Langford
Thompson
Penaluna

Even longer wait.
Scherf
Froling
Fareo
Magbegor
Collins

On the way out:
Batkovic 34
Jackson 33
Richards 30
Hodges 31

Tom Maher would be happy if he ends up getting the win over the Opals tonight.

Not a fan of maher. With a huge player pool in china to choose from and an increase in investment for Chinese athletes, they should be on the way up.